Rio de Janeiro • The waters where Olympians will compete in swimming and boating events next summer in South America's first games are rife with human sewage and present a serious health risk for athletes, as well as for visitors to the iconic beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
An Associated Press investigation found dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from sewage in venues where athletes will compete in the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic water sports.
In the first independent comprehensive testing for both viruses and bacteria at the Olympic sites, the AP conducted four rounds of tests starting in March. The results have alarmed international experts and dismayed competitors training in Rio, some of whom have already have fallen ill with fevers, vomiting and diarrhea.
These ailments could knock an athlete out for days, potentially curtailing Olympics dreams and the years of hard training behind them.
Water pollution has long plagued Brazil's urban areas, where most sewage isn't collected or treated. In Rio, much of the waste runs through open-air ditches to fetid streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites and blight the city's postcard beaches.
Richard Budgett, the medical director for the International Olympic Committee, said after seeing the AP findings that the IOC and Brazilian authorities should stick to their program of testing only for bacteria to determine whether the water is safe for athletes, as that is the accepted norm globally.
"We've had reassurances from the World Health Organization and others that there is no significant risk to athlete health," he told the AP on the sidelines of an IOC meeting in Malaysia.
Water and health experts in the U.S. and Europe are pushing regulatory agencies to include viral testing in determining water quality because the majority of illnesses from recreational water activities are related to viruses, not bacteria.
Brazilian authorities pledged an overhaul of the city's waterways. But the stench of raw sewage still greets travelers arriving at Rio's international airport.
More than 10,000 athletes hailing from over 200 countries are expected to compete in the Aug. 5-21, 2016, games. Nearly 1,400 of them will come into contact with waters contaminated by rampant sewage pollution. And starting next week, hundreds of athletes will take to the waters in Olympic trial events.
Brazilian officials say the waters will be safe, but AP testing over five months found not one venue fit for swimming or boating, according to experts, who say it's too late for cleanup.
In this July 12, 2015 photo, a boy walks with his father's catch of the day from the Marina da Gloria, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The head of Rio's Infectious Diseases Society said contaminated waters in beaches and lakes has led to "endemic" public health woes among Brazilians, primarily infectious diarrhea in children. By adolescence, he said, people in Rio have been so exposed to the viruses in the water their bodies build up antibodies. But foreign athletes and tourists wont have that protection. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
This July 27, 2015 aerial photo shows the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An Associated Press analysis of water quality found dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage in Olympic and Paralympic venues. The Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, which was largely cleaned up in recent years, was thought be safe for rowers and canoers. Yet AP tests found its waters to be among the most polluted for Olympic sites. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
FILE - In this April 16, 2015 file photo, athletes Diego Nazario, back, and Emanuel Dantas Borges, train in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, surrounded by dead small silvery fish, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Despite decades of official pledges to clean up the mess, the stench of raw sewage still greets travelers touching down at Rio's international airport. Prime beaches are deserted because the surf is thick with putrid sludge, and periodic die-offs leave the Olympic lake, Rodrigo de Freitas, littered with rotting fish. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
In this July 15, 2015 photo, sewage spews into the waters of the Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated, and much of the raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
This July 27, 2015 aerial photo shows the Alegria Sewage Treatment Plant, located alongside the Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Starting in 1993, Japans international cooperation agency poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a Guanabara clean-up project. The Inter-American Development bank later issued a $452 million loan for more works. A culture of corruption stymied any progress. For years, none of four sewage treatment plants built with the Japanese money operated at full capacity. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this April 28, 2015 photo, Fernando Spilki, virologist and coordinator of the environmental quality program at Feevale University, holds up a water sample, backdropped by the Marina da Gloria, Zone 2, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Spilki said the tests he conducted for the Associated Press so far show that Rio's waters "are chronically contaminated." (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this July 28, 2015 photo, a water canal surrounds housing in the Mare slum complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated, and much of the raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
In this July 28, 2015 photo, workers remove garbage collected by floating waste barriers in a canal at the Mare slum complex, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio's historic sewage problem spiraled over the past decade as the population exploded with many of the metropolitan area's 12 million residents settling in the vast slums that ring the bay. Waste flows into over 50 streams that empty into the once-crystalline Guanabara Bay. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
FILE - In this June 1, 2015 file photo, a discarded sofa litters the shore of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As part of its Olympic bid, Brazil promised to build eight treatment facilities to filter out much of the sewage and prevent tons of household trash from flowing into the Guanabara Bay. Only one has been built. Tons of household trash line the coastline and form islands of refuse. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
In this July 9, 2015 photo, doctoral candidate Rodrigo Staggemeier works to analyze samples collected from the waters of Rio de Janeiro, at the Feevale University in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. The testing conducted for the Associated Press looked for three different types of human adenovirus that are typical "markers" of human sewage in Brazil. The coordinator of the environmental quality program at the university in southern Brazil, said the tests for the AP so far show that Rio's waters "are chronically contaminated." (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this June 5, 2015 photo, fetid water flows out of a storm drain that dumps into the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, where Olympic rowing competitions are slated to be held during the 2016 games, in Rio de Janeiro. Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated, and much of the raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this April 28, 2015 photo, Fernando Spilki, the head of the environmental studies program at Feevale University, takes water samples from the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With little to no sewage treatment, Spilki said, "the quantity of fecal matter entering the waterbodies in Brazil is extremely high. Unfortunately, we have levels comparable to some African nations, to India." (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this July 13, 2015 photo, backdropped by Sugar Loaf Mountain, a worker sets up a fence in preparation for an Olympic test event, at the Marina da Gloria, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries are expected to compete in next yearís games. Hundreds of them will be sailing in the waters near Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay; swimming off Copacabana beach; and canoeing and rowing on the brackish waters of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
This July 27, 2015 aerial photo shows Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Water quality monitoring was supposed to be beefed up along the citys picture postcard beaches, including Copacabana, where the marathon swimming competition is to be staged. An Associated Press analysis of the water quality showed the beach waters laden with sewage viruses. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this April 28, 2015 photo, Fernando Spilki, the head of the environmental studies program at Feevale University, holds up water samples taken from the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Spilki's testing looked for three different types of human adenovirus that are typical "markers" of human sewage in Brazil. In addition, he tested for enteroviruses, the most common cause of upper respiratory tract infections in the young. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
In this July 28, 2015 photo, a boy wades in the beach waters of Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio Olympic organizing committee's website states that a key legacy of the games will be 'the rehabilitation and protection of the area's environment, particularly its bays and canals" in areas where water sports will take place. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
FILE - In this May 20, 2015 file photo, Nawal El Moutawakel, head of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission, right, watches Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Eduardo Paes speak during the inauguration of the Olympic Rings at the Madureira Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Paes has said it's a "shame" the Olympic promises wouldn't be met, adding the games are proving "a wasted opportunity," as far as the waterways are concerned. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
This July 27, 2015 aerial photo shows fluorescent green waters in the Marapendi Lagoon, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lagoons that hug the Olympic Park and which the governments own data shows are among the most polluted waters in Rio were to be dredged, but the project got hung up in bureaucratic hurdles and has yet to start. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
This July 27, 2015 aerial photo, shows Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Construction is underway on a project to cap a pipe that long spewed raw sewage into the marina, the starting place for the Olympic sailing events. Yet Associated Press testing of the marina's water quality found it laden with sewage viruses. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this July 13, 2015 photo, men carry a rowing boat for a practice session in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lake, which was largely cleaned up in recent years, was thought be safe for rowers and canoers. Yet Associated Press tests found its waters to be among the most polluted for Olympic sites. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this July 16, 2015 photo, Ivan Bulaja, coach of the Austrian 49er-class sailing team, speaks during an interview, in the Rio de Janeiro municipality Niteroi, Brazil. The Croatian-born coach said his sailors have lost valuable training days while in Brazil after falling ill with vomiting and diarrhea. "This is by far the worst water quality weve ever seen in our sailing careers," said Bulaja, whose team has been sailing in Guanabara Bay, where their competition will take place. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
In this July 16, 2015 photo, members of Austria's Olympic sailing team train in the Rio de Janeiro municipality Niteroi, Brazil. "This is by far the worst water quality we've ever seen in our sailing careers," said Austria's coach Ivan Bulaja. The Austrian sailors take precautions, washing their faces immediately with bottled water when they get splashed by waves and showering the minute they return to shore. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
In this July 13, 2015 photo, athletes practice rowing on a deck in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries are expected to compete in next year's Olympics games. Nearly 1,400 of them will be sailing in the waters near Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay; swimming off Copacabana Beach; and canoeing and rowing on the brackish waters of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this July 14, 2015 photo, beachgoers wade into the waters of Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An Associated Press analysis of water quality found not one water venue safe for swimming or boating in Rio's waters. Over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries are expected to compete in next year's Summer Olympics. Hundreds of them will be sailing in the waters near Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay; swimming off Copacabana Beach; and canoeing and rowing on the brackish waters of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
This July 27, 2015 aerial photo shows the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An Associated Press analysis of water quality found dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage in Olympic and Paralympic venues. The Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, which was largely cleaned up in recent years, was thought be safe for rowers and canoers. Yet AP tests found its waters to be among the most polluted for Olympic sites. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
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